Incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and former Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., are in a dead heat in a hypothetical election race.

New poll finds Shaheen, Brown in dead heat

Staff Report

A new poll of a potential U.S. Senate matchup between Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Republican former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown shows them in a dead heat.

Purple Strategies, a national strategic communications firm that recently opened an office in Boston, says it polled 1,052 Granite Staters between Jan. 21 and 23 and found Brown and Shaheen tied at 44 percent. The margin of error is 3 percent.

Brown recently moved full time to his home in Rye and has been flirting with a possible Senate run in New Hampshire, but has not yet made any public announcement of his intentions.

In the potential 2016 presidential field, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was backed by 68 percent of Democratic votes, while 2012 nominee Mitt Romney led the potential Republican field with Kentucky Rand Paul at 18 percent and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 17 percent.

General election matchups had Clinton with small leads over former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Christie.